Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium

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Let me get a little rant out of the way. EGF operations. I’m not being a prima donna about this, but when you have been to a whole lot of parks, you know what’s normal and what’s not in operations. You can see what should be, even when it isn’t. EGF is not crowded at all. In fact, it clearly should be a walk-on. I was actually amazed at the small number of people there, considering it’s a Saturday, the park is decently attended, and there are only three coasters.

But the park is only running one train. Still, that’s not the problem. It’s the Byzantine process of checking the restraints, carried out in such a glacial and indifferent manner.

The ops here have actively taken a walk-on situation and MADE it into a thirty-minute-plus station wait. Just amazing.

So EGF had trains leaving the station every five to eight minutes. I timed it. You could imagine what that does to the line. Again, on a day when the crowd level means it should be a walk-on, the lines were 30-60 minutes.

So my more generous reading of the situation is that this is gross incompetence. Holiday Park has never seen how other parks work, so they’re just winging it and they don’t know any better.

A less generous reading is that this is done intentionally to sell. To sell fast passes first and foremost. Also, it traps people in the station where they’re subjected to an unending advert for an elevator pop radio station, which itself features ads for things within it.

And speaking of fast passes, the operations were so slow that fast pass riders who had just boarded the train and thus really annoyed those waiting in the station (many of whom are actually sitting on the floor in the station, because they know they won’t be required to move any time soon) — these fast pass riders were able to complete the ride, and then run around the ausgang-to-eingang path to get back on the NEXT TRAIN. You can imagine how those in the station felt about that.

And there were two young ladies with fast passes, clearly friends, who for some reason liked to sit separately, in the last row and in the second to last row — thus blocking two lines of riders. And then, to add to this, they preferred to sit on the station side, thus blocking even single waiting riders from getting on the train next to them. And the ride ops said nothing about this and let it happen over and over. The mind boggles.

Anyway, this interesting set-up made it impossible to truly marathon EGF. I managed to get in seven rides over time, spending two-thirds of my park time trying to get on this coaster.

Congrats, Holiday Park, you join my top five worst operations.

As for the coaster, which I rode intermittently, it was great. Because of the stretched out pacing, it’s not as intense to me as something like, say, Skyrush, but it was pretty awesome on the whole. The first drop is brilliant, and there’s a plethora of yonking drops. The coaster didn’t quite hit the level of personal favoriteness that I was secretly hoping for, but it was fairly awesome, nonetheless.

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TRIPSDRILL — Well, I found Tripsdrill very charming, with lots of little creative touches, and with an engaging traditional, family feel to the park. It’s small, so it’s a bit lacking in attractions in general, but what it has is very nice.

The log ride is a great one, with many memorable touches, such as a surprise splash zone in the queue line, a steep drop, nice castle/bath theming, and one room full of rather seductively posed naked women (not real women, but facsimiles thereof).

Mammut was a lumbering, slow woodie, that shook comically from side to side, and though I had lots of room under the lapbar, I got air only on one small hill.

G’Sengte Sau was surprisingly far more enjoyable than Mammut, with its charming theming and great dips.

Karacho is a really fun ride. The two surprises in the dark right at the beginning of the coaster (I won’t spoil what they are) really start the ride off fantastically, and the coaster has some great dive loops and other elements. It’s a really fun ride. I won’t say that the open-air section struck me as terribly original feeling — felt like many other coasters I’ve done before — but it’s great stuff.

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I’ve just checked into the Hotel Krønasår at Europa Park for three nights, and — holy cow — I feel as if I’ve just checked into a cruise ship (not that I’ve ever done that). The scale of this place alone is amazing, and as it’s a brand new hotel, everything is shiny and sparkly.

I get into the park half an hour early the next two mornings, and apparently I get free entry now! So I may pop my head in for an hour after I finish dinner. An unexpected start.

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One-hour EUROPA PARK sneak preview. Just had a quick pop into the park when I didn’t expect it, and I got in seven rides on things. First, even though it’s quite hot out right now, I figured water rides might be good to hit tonight, as they’ll have no line now but probably huge lines tomorrow. I was right about there being no lines now.

Atlantic Supersplash — quick and fun enough. The same as the one as SWSA, but with better theming.

Then without intending it I did three rides/attractions in quick succession that all delved into the same dark, cavernous mining themed area filled with gnomes: the Tyrolean log ride, Alpenexpress (a powered coaster that zooms in sweeping circles through a mountain — reminded me of Thunder Run at CW), and a walk-through ride themed to diamond mines.

Then, as closing time was very nigh, and as this particular ride was a walk-on, I rode Arthur in the Land of the Minimoys three times in a row. Such a charmingly themed ride with several moments of actual zip as a ride. I’d been looking forward to riding this for years!

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Well, so much for making Wodan my 500th. The park opened early for hotel guests, but we were funneled to Wodan, and I wasn’t going to refuse to ride it. Normally, I’d never choose to ride a woodie first thing in the morning. I don’t know if this was a factor, but the coaster felt slow, and the layout felt unimpressive and short.

Blue Fire is situated right next to it, and that opened right afterward, so I rode that next. I never expected to say this, but after my first two rides of the day I enjoyed Blue Fire a lot more.

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So today was an odd day. If you don’t want hear prosaic, personal details, skip the next paragraph.

As I said before, this morning I was “forced” onto Wodan first thing. Well, the stomach troubles I had a few days ago were not completely gone. In the last few days, for an hour after any big meal, I’ve found I’ve had to take it easy. But this morning I went straight from a big, free hotel buffet to being funneled onto a big wooden coaster, and it triggered a horrible relapse in my stomach. I tried to tough it out at the park for some time, but i was in great discomfort and close to passing out, so eventually I took the shuttle back to the hotel and slept. By the time I got up again — feeling much better — and managed to head out to the park again, there were two and a half hours left till closing.

So, I was fairly distraught thinking my Europa Park time had turned into a disaster, but given what I squeezed in last night, given what I did this morning, and given all that I packed in this evening, when there were a lot of walk-ons, I think I may have salvaged things. I think that with one more proper day tomorrow, I may leave this place having done the park decently well after all.

So, I’ll list what I’ve managed to do, and take suggestions for what I still need to get to.

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Now keep in mind that I was not feeling well, but my first impression of the park this morning was actually not terribly positive. It was really hot (and by the way, the shuttle bus is hot inside, the ride queues are hot, and the dark rides are stiflingly hot), and the park is just teeming with masses of humanity clamoring over each other in the walkways and being corralled into massive lines. The experience at EP this morning reminded me of Disney in the worst sense. Just a massive conveyer belt of consumer-tourists being processed on a crazy scale.

But I returned to the park feeling better, and spent time in shadier, cooler parts of the park, and much of the crowds had thinned out a little, and I began to see what it so special about the place. Actually, one of the negatives I was just speaking of — scale — is also one of the most impressive aspects of the place. The park is just grand in every sense of the word.

And finally, I’ll comment on just one ride. I did do Silver Star for my 500th. I decided to wait longer and get the front row. I said before that I enjoy all B&M hypers, and I enjoyed this one. But I hated the sponsored theming, and I was amazed that the ride was shaking so much (given that several in this forum have cited it as the smoothest in their experience), and though I gave myself a lot of room, i only got moderate floater here and there. So, after my first ride, I’d say it’s the weakest B&M hyper out of the many I’ve done — BUT I still enjoyed it immensely as I always enjoy these rides. And clamshells are always the best!

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Definitely give Silver Star a go in the back, the front is a bit tame but the back gives some abrupt airtime yanks off the MCBR and off the helix.

Atlantis Adventure is a cute dark ride which rarely gets a queue.

The smaller monorail is worth doing from the Luxembourg station to the Iceland one for the gorgeous views of Atlantica and Wodan.

Jungle Rafts is a nicely themed boat ride with a brief dark ride section. It's a bit hidden away in the middle of the park which doesn't get much thoroughfare but it's worth hunting out if you want some chill time. Same with the boat ride in the German section which has a short indoor part, it's got a very 'European Park' vibe to it.

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Definitely give Silver Star a go in the back, the front is a bit tame but the back gives some abrupt airtime yanks off the MCBR and off the helix.

Atlantis Adventure is a cute dark ride which rarely gets a queue.

The smaller monorail is worth doing from the Luxembourg station to the Iceland one for the gorgeous views of Atlantica and Wodan.

Jungle Rafts is a nicely themed boat ride with a brief dark ride section. It's a bit hidden away in the middle of the park which doesn't get much thoroughfare but it's worth hunting out if you want some chill time. Same with the boat ride in the German section which has a short indoor part, it's got a very 'European Park' vibe to it.

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Definitely give Silver Star a go in the back, the front is a bit tame but the back gives some abrupt airtime yanks off the MCBR and off the helix.

Atlantis Adventure is a cute dark ride which rarely gets a queue.

The smaller monorail is worth doing from the Luxembourg station to the Iceland one for the gorgeous views of Atlantica and Wodan.

Jungle Rafts is a nicely themed boat ride with a brief dark ride section. It's a bit hidden away in the middle of the park which doesn't get much thoroughfare but it's worth hunting out if you want some chill time. Same with the boat ride in the German section which has a short indoor part, it's got a very 'European Park' vibe to it.

Thanks for the tips. I’ve done all these now,
Except the reride on Silver Star and the monorail. Everything to do with Scandinavia (including the monorail) is cordoned off at the moment as today is the official re-opening of area. Real reindeer were involved!

And I’ve finished the coasters, of course leaving B-a-a Express for last as something to work up to.

And the body is cooperating just fine today. Never had a problem with this before, and I actually think it stems from repeated blows to the gut on Joris! Medical friend of mine says all the symptoms fit a temporary distortion of the intestine, which apparently slowly corrects itself. The dangers of coaster riding!

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Had a great second day at EP, and, not surprisingly, I came away thinking the park is pretty magnificent. In a way, I’d lump it with Efteling as Euro parks that remind me of Disney in what they do.

Despite my interrupted first full day, I leave feeling that I’ve “done” the place. I rode everything I could think and find to ride, (including every single recommendation made in this thread — thank you), and I did rerides on all the major coasters.

I did the two Euro coasters twice each because they are just kitschy fun.

After my front-row ride yesterday on Silver Star, today I rode back row three more times. It’s clearly a lot better in the back, making the drops more fun. I’d still say it’s a mid-to-lower-tier B&M hyper, but it’s an awesome ride and my favorite coaster at the park.

The big surprise was Wodan, which I found to have a weak layout for a GCI. I expected this one to be my favorite, as I like GCIs more than most enthusiasts, I think.

But, as with Efteling, a cataloguing of coasters and my ratings for them doesn’t seem adequate for this park. The greatness of Europa Park is in its scale and in the quality of its regionally themed areas.

I will say that with climate change, the park is going to have to start to consider air conditioning. The sweltering conditions on some of the ride queues and even the rides themselves were borderline dangerous for the GP.